Two Nigerian fintechs, Moni Africa and Touchand Pay, have made the list of six finalists in the Ecobank Fintech Challenge Fellowship programme.
The Nigerian fintechs were among the six finalists chosen following what organisers of the “extremely strong competition from over 700 fintechs from 59 countries.”
Cauri Money, Senegal; DizzitUp, Togo; MaishaPay, Democratic Republic of Congo; Moni Africa, Nigeria; Paycode, South Africa and Touchand Pay, Nigeria made the final list, Ecobank Group announced today noting that the programme’s Grand Finale will be held on October 28 at the Pan African Centre in Lomé, Togo.
The six finalists for the fifth edition of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge that will compete for the top price of $50,000 “stood out from a highly competitive pool of over 700 applicants from 59 countries in and outside Africa.”
Tomisin Fashina, Ecobank Group Executive, Operations and Technology.
The six finalists for the fifth edition of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge that will compete for the top price of $50,000 “stood out from a highly competitive pool of over 700 applicants from 59 countries in and outside Africa”, the bank says.
Ecobank Fintech Challenge ‘Seeks Africa’s Success Stories’
The Ecobank Fintech Challenge, organisers say, is designed to identify innovative fintechs that are ready to grow, that we can partner with, mentor and give access to Ecobank’s 33 African markets, so that they can realise their potential and become pan-African success stories.
“This competition is in line with Ecobank’s Fintech strategy of building partnerships with African fintechs to help transform digital finance and banking”, according to Ecobank.
Tomisin Fashina, Ecobank Group Executive, Operations and Technology, said: “I am impressed by the growing number of applications for the Ecobank Fintech Challenge. Applications have grown from about 412 applications in 2018 to over 700 in 2022. This demonstrates a definite paradigm shift within the African continent, with Africans’ desire to transform technological innovation into a real lever for socio-economic development. We thank all applicants for their participation and applaud the highly impressive quality of their entries. We look forward to partnering with them for their groundbreaking digital financial solutions to our continent’s unique challenges and to help promoting financial inclusion on the continent.”
This 5th edition of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge, which is sponsored by Arise, will allow all finalists to benefit from Ecobank’s Fintech Mentoring Programme. During this programme, Ecobank will help them to explore opportunities including:
- Rolling out their products on a pan-African scale: an opportunity to further integrate with Ecobank and potentially launch their products or services in all or part of Ecobank’s 33-country pan-African ecosystem.
- Access to the Group’s pan-African Banking Sandbox to test and develop their products in the pan-African market.
- Priority access to Ecobank’s venture capital partners to explore funding opportunities.
“Fintechs play a central role in creating innovative digital solutions that improve customer experience, deliver value propositions and reduce costs. Our investments in fintechs are based on collaborative partnerships that advance financial inclusion on the continent and offer opportunities for mutual synergies with our balanced investment portfolio”, Gavin Tipper, CEO of Arise, partner and co-sponsor of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge 2022 competition, says.
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We need more of these competitions to stimulate and unlock African talents.